1. Field of the Invention
As heavy motorized equipment becomes more common in usage, as a means of increasing efficiency with a commensurate saving in time and money, repair and maintenance is of considerable concern. If the equipment is not working, it is losing money and down time is expensive.
In the day of the lug wheel, maintenance and repair on wheels was of little consequence. They did not wear significantly and seldom broke. With the advent of the inflatable rubber tire, however, another, and more consequential, aspect of repair and maintenance has been introduced. Whether it is an issue of flats, i.e., involuntary deflation, or tread wear, time is required to pull the wheel, remove the tire as needed, replace or repair the tire and reinstall the wheel on the equipment from which it was first taken.
Many of these work vehicles have a multi piece wheel in which retainer rings and locking rings are provided to position and hold the tire on the wheel. Front end loaders commonly employ such wheel assemblies and, as will appear hereinafter, the present invention is particularly adapted to assist in mounting tires on such equipment.
Unlike conventional motor vehicle wheels which may be as small as 13″ and perhaps as large as 20″ and are repaired at one's local garage, off road equipment, such as front end loaders, can not be efficiently and quickly moved to a nice comfortable garage with a flat concrete floor. Repair and replacement of tires on such equipment often must be handled in the dirt and mud of a field or quarry. How then does one change, and more particularly, replace a tire in the field quickly, efficiently and without removing the wheel from the piece of equipment involved? The present invention provides a novel answer.
2. Overview of the Prior Art
A search conducted among the patent art demonstrates that the focus of much of the innovation in the area involves devices used to break the bead of a tire from the rim of a wheel upon which the tire is mounted, as contrasted to the present invention in which the tire is mounted on the wheel and particularly a tire which is larger than the wheel was built to handle.
Examples of this art include Wicklund U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,934, which relates to what is referred to as a portable bead breaker. A cross bar has clamps which grab the rim of a wheel and a foot on the clamps is screwed down to break the bead of the tire from the rim. A variation on the same theme is found in Goebel U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,661, where rollers are provided to permit the bead breaker to be moved about the rim to break the bead about the circumference of the rim.
Claude Martin filed an application in 1940 which eventuated in two patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,290,887 and 2,317,072, both of which relate to a tire tool featuring an elongated lever for providing a mechanical advantage in applying pressure necessary to break loose the tires of the time as part of the tire changing process, and Kohn U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,158 represents another bead breaking device, including an elongate lever.
Finally, Brunner U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,922 is yet another device for depressing the tire side wall as part of the bead breaking process for changing a tire.
None of the art located address the special problems attendant the installation of tires on the wheel assemblies described and in the field, without removing the wheel itself from the equipment which it supports.